Devotion
by MissFaerieKaiti
Summary: "Why don't you make a fool of yourself for me?" She hates him now, and herself worse. Or does she? He loves her still. Oneshot, Shikamaru/OC. Read and review, please! Second chapter is edited version of original.
1. Original

**Okay, my very first fanfic. Here goes nothing. =) I'll love you forever if you give me your thoughts on this, and constructive criticism is welcome, too.**

**In this story, Team Asuma (minus Asuma) and Kaida are, I guesstimate, in their early twenties.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own **_**Naruto **_**or the characters in it, unfortunately. Kaida is mine, as are Wakana and Hotaka. The thing about the making a fool of himself was taken from **_**River Secrets**_**, in which that's a minor plot to the bigger story.**

* * *

"..._Always silent, smart, ready to give me anything."_

"_What a drag..."_

"_Just once, I'd like to see you __**not**__ the perfect man. Why don't you make a fool of yourself for me?"_

* * *

She hated him. She hated him for being so perfect, for always being there for her, for making her so illogically unsure with a simple question. Worse, she hated herself for hating him.

Kaida was only half listening as Lady Tsunade described the mission and who she would be working with this time. She snapped out of her depressing daydream as the Hokage ended with a "Got all that?"

"Uh, sure," Kaida replied, trying for the endless optimism and energy she always displayed. "This mission will be a success, I guarantee it!"

"Good. Meet the team you'll be working with by the exit to the village in a half an hour," came the reply.

Kaida forced a grin and silly salute, then exited Lady Tsunade's office. On her way to her home to pack for the trip (she guessed to pack enough for a day or three), she laughed much harder than necessary at some of the younger ninja showing off for each other, then again at Gai and Lee as they practiced invigorating and youth-filled speeches. The laughter never reached her hazel eyes.

She packed quickly and reached the exit of Konoha in half the time required by Lady Tsunade. She was eager for a mission and hopefully a fight to take her mind off of how she had yelled at him for no apparent reason.

"Hey, Ino!" Kaida called and waved fifteen minutes later as the kunoichi came into sight, then was followed by Choji. Kaida froze. _This _was the team she was being sent on a mission with? Maybe he wouldn't be coming, though. Maybe it would just be Ino and Choji.

Just her luck, Shikamaru was right behind Choji. Kaida shook herself and attempted a smile at all three. Shikamaru would never be fooled, but perhaps she could get Ino and Choji to think nothing was wrong.

Ino sighed dramatically as she reached the place where Kaida stood. "This mission is going to be the worst. I mean, we're _ninja_, for goodness' sake, not _movers_. I can't believe our mission is to relocate someone from one town to a different building in the same town!" she complained.

Kaida grinned, focusing on Ino's topic choice as a way to avoid saying anything to Shikamaru. Besides, since she had zoned out while Lady Tsunade was describing the mission to her, an update was good. She began to say something, but Choji broke in between bites of chips.

"We're not helping just anyone move, Ino," he reminded her. "A world-renowned _restaurant owner _and_ chef_. He needs our help setting up, and maybe he'll reward us with some of his famous food."

Kaida laughed. "As we'll be staying with him for the duration of the mission, I'm sure we'll have that chance."

"We'd better get started, then," Shikamaru added. Kaida quieted and developed sudden intense interest in the scenery of where they would be headed once they began moving. "The sooner we get there, the sooner Choji can sample his cooking."

"Right!" Ino agreed, setting off. Kaida forced another laugh and ran ahead, not bothering to wait and see how quickly the others were following.

* * *

The group of four spent the day walking along the road that would eventually lead them to the town they were needed at, stopping once for lunch and again for supper. Just before night fell, they set up camp and chatted for a while around a fire. Close to an hour later, Ino shooed the boys off, claiming to want a girl-chat by the light of the fire. Choji rolled his eyes but complied, crawling into one of the two tents. After a long look at Kaida (which she ignored and stared instead at the fire) Shikamaru followed his friend.

"All right," Ino began softly when Shikamaru was in the tent. "What's wrong?"

Kaida looked over at Ino with feigned surprise and innocence. "What do you mean?"

Ino smirked. "You've hardly said two words to your boyfriend all day. What'd you do, break up or something? That's kind of hard to believe." She refilled her glass with water.

Kaida bit back a sigh and stared into the flames again, silent for a while. Then, finally, "Shikamaru wants to buy me a ring."

Ino choked on her drink. Silence reigned for a while again, then Ino broke it. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Kaida half shrugged. "I'm just being an idiot, I guess. I do love him. But then I practically bit his head off when he said that."

She still remembered every word of their heated argument. Or, at least, she had had the heated and argument parts both; he had just given an annoyed comment every once in a while in reply. '_Why don't you make a fool of yourself for me?' _was probably one of the worse things she had said.

"Will you try and kill me if I ask why?"

"No."

Silence, as Ino waited. Then:

"Why?"

"He's a genius, funny when he wants to be, serious most other times, quiet a lot. He acts as though he never wants to do anything 'too troublesome', yet he'll risk his life for me and any other friend in a heartbeat. He demolishes me at thinking games. He hardly ever displays weakness."

Ino gave Kaida a weird look. "You're not making any sense. You sound like you're listing all his good points."

Kaida shook her head and stood. "I am."

She entered into the other tent, leaving Ino confused as to what could possibly be making her friend act this way.

* * *

The next morning was spent much the same as the previous one. Kaida laughed and joked enough with Ino and Choji to give herself a headache; and this time she made it a point to include Shikamaru in some of the topics, still conscious of last night's conversation where Ino had mentioned that she had hardly talked with Shikamaru. She made an extra effort to pretend everything was normal.

They found themselves at their destination about an hour after lunch. It was a large building; the interior held many boxes and tables and chairs and several other items. The upstairs, Kaida guessed, led to where the owner or owners lived, probably stuffed with more evidence of moving.

The four ninja waited around in the room they found themselves in when they entered. There was a violin playing in the background. Choji broke open another bag of snacks.

Eventually an older man came into view from the upstairs and started in surprise at the small group waiting for him.

"We're closed, sorry. I suggest coming back a few weeks earlier," he said. Kaida grinned politely at the comment that seemed to be intended as a joke.

"Actually, sir, we're the ninja from Konoha, here to help you move your things," Shikamaru explained, though he seemed slightly distracted, thinking hard, Kaida noticed. He hadn't been like that outside.

"Ah, yes!" the man brightened. "Wakana!" he called upstairs where he had been moments earlier. The violin playing stopped and a few seconds passed before a young girl with red hair similar to Kaida's appeared.

"Yes, Father?" she asked, smiling at the visitors.

"These people claim to be the help we hired," he told her, then turned to the group once again. "My name is Hotaka, and this is my daughter, Wakana."

"Ino, Choji, Kaida, and Shikamaru," Shikamaru said, motioning to each one as he said their names. "Just tell us what to do."

In minutes, the six of them were going around and helping to pack up and get things ready to be moved. The chore lasted the rest of the day with little conversation. Finally, around seven o'clock, Hotaka announced that supper was ready.

Choji was the first to abandon what he was doing and seat himself at a table still useable. Kaida laughed and joined him quickly at her stomach's insistence, whereas Ino and Shikamaru and Wakana finished what they were doing first and then sat for the meal.

The next day was much the same – packing, eating, packing, chatting, packing.

That night, at supper, Wakana brought down her violin to play for them. She played happy and sad songs both, lively and slow, and somewhere in between. Kaida saw Choji shoot Shikamaru a look and wished she understood what it meant.

Speaking of looks, though, Ino said no more of Kaida and Shikamaru's problem, but she seemed to try and get the two to find each other conveniently working near each other on a regular basis. The looks she sent Kaida were clear enough: _Make up with him! _The silence when that happened was far too loud.

Finally, after another day had passed, they were ready to move the things. The day after, they set out in pairs, Ino and Choji, Kaida and Hotaka, Shikamaru and Wakana. Kaida couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy creep up at a secretively pleased expression on Shikamaru's face when he and Wakana returned from one of their trips to the new and bigger building.

She was immediately distracted, though, as a large and heavy box was shoved into her arms by Hotaka. With difficulty, she turned her attention to him as he described his new place proudly.

"I'll be able to fit even more people into it," he continued. "More people means more business, which means more money, which means more food items can be bought and made into a recipe and added to the menu, which means more business. It's a never-ending cycle. Soon I'll probably be moving to _another_ bigger building!"

* * *

Kaida had definitely not packed enough to last the duration of this mission, and Ino somehow knew it. When Hotaka announced a day of rest after a week of work-well-done, Ino seized the moment to drag Kaida off shopping. It was one of her least favorite activities, made worse when Wakana grabbed Shikamaru to do something together. But Ino would not take no for an answer, so Kaida grudgingly obeyed.

One way or another, Ino got Kaida to blow much more than half of the money she had brought with on clothes – one fancy dress in particular. If asked later how Ino had talked her into it, she never would be able to remember, or perhaps she just didn't want to tell.

Most of the day, though, was spent on Ino trying on clothes, not Kaida.

"How do I look in this?" she asked, only to ditch it for another outfit. "Do you think Sasuke would notice me in this?" "What do you think of this?"

Halfway through the day, Kaida simply grabbed a boring book (it was more interesting than watching her shop-a-holic friend model every stylish outfit every store in town had) and gave a noncommittal "hmmm" or "mhmm" each time Ino asked her opinion.

Ino was loaded down with shopping bags by the time she was ready to return, whereas Kaida had only two with a few outfits in each, plus that one book. Suddenly, when they were almost to the restaurant, Ino stopped.

"What's wrong?" Kaida asked, afraid Ino would say she had missed a store and therefore had to go try on more outfits.

Ino looked down at her bags, mumbling unintelligibly to herself. Finally, she spoke up so Kaida could understand her. "I forgot one of my shopping bags!" was the horrified reply. "Would you go get it for me?" Ino asked Kaida, her tone more ordering than requesting.

Kaida grimaced. "Why me?"

"I would be buried under all these bags if I were to add another one. You only have two bags; it wouldn't be too, too much trouble for you to get it for me, right?" Ino gave her a puppy-eyed look.

Kaida groaned even as she turned around. "Which store did you leave it at?"

Ino's expression suddenly changed mischievous behind Kaida's back, but her tone was kept the same as before as she answered Kaida. As Kaida left to retrieve the forgotten purchase, Ino opened the door of the restaurant to the worst violin-playing she had heard. Was Wakana botching some musical piece on purpose? Kaida could think of no other explanation for the horrid sound.

* * *

The next few weeks either flew by or dragged by, depending on what mood Kaida was in. Most of them dragged, especially when she caught herself thinking about Shikamaru. She still was unsure what caused her to react the way she did to his simple statement, but she was no more willing to back down now than she had been at the start.

Setting up all the stuff in the new building proved a difficult task made even more difficult due to Hotaka's continuously changing mind on where he wanted things to go and how he wanted them arranged. Not only did they have to set up the things coming from the old building, but also some new furniture and kitchen things that had been bought. Goodness, had Kaida been wrong when she thought this mission would take only a few days at most. She was beginning to get homesick. And fightsick. She had little time during the day to devote to training, not to mention she had no partners to train with. She could go without the partner, but not getting much training in was starting to bug her.

But only when Choji jumped in surprise when she snapped at him for the smallest thing did she realize she really needed to find some way to get rid of the cooped-up feeling she was having from this indoor routine that was establishing. From then on, she woke before the sun and went just outside the town to train vigorously. It felt wonderful, and well worth waking up earlier.

The next day that Hotaka declared a holiday, before Ino could take her shopping again, Kaida escaped to her training spot outside the town bent on spending all day there.

Hearing a noise in the shadows around midafternoon, Kaida was about to thrust her kunai there when Shikamaru appeared, yawning.

"What are you doing here?" Kaida asked, scowling at him for surprising her.

"Thought maybe you'd want a training partner," he replied lazily. Her expression softened ever so slightly and he continued, "It's a pain, training. But never training is an even bigger drag."

Kaida considered him for a moment, debating whether to accept his offer or tell him to get lost. "Okay then," she agreed, albeit somewhat reluctantly.

While they trained together, Kaida had to force herself not to attack him with everything she had. It was difficult not to let out all the frustration she was feeling through attacking him. He wouldn't complain if she did, she realized. Other than the usual complaint that she was troublesome, he had never tried to stop her from letting out all she was feeling through attacking him back at Konoha when she got mad at anyone and everyone _except_ him.

So did that mean she was angry at him now?

She wasn't sure. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that she was just angry at herself, none at him anymore, if she had been at all in the first place. And yet she still couldn't – wouldn't – bring herself to apologize.

Still, she did determine to be friendlier towards him from then on.

Suddenly she caught his hand as he aimed an attack at her. Instead of counterattacking or letting go, she held onto it and studied it.

"Your fingers are red where I think Wakana has calluses," she commented. From violin-playing or helping her father in the restaurant or something else? Kaida wondered.

Shikamaru flushed slightly. "Your point?" he asked, sounding an odd mixture of annoyed and bored and even a small hint of nervousness.

She shrugged, let him go, and went back to training.

* * *

"Can you believe we're almost done with this mission!" Ino exclaimed weeks later. "The day of the grand opening will be our last day here!"

Choji grinned. "I gotta say, I'll be glad to get back to Konoha and my many favorite places to eat there, though I'm going to miss this food a lot, too."

"Don't get too impatient," Shikamaru advised. "We'll get back to the village soon enough."

Kaida wrinkled her nose even as she grinned. "I don't know if I even want to stick around for the opening ceremony. I'm going to have to get dressed up, aren't I?"

"Of course!" Ino laughed. "Look, just wear that dress you bought here. I promise I won't force you to go shopping with me to get something better," she vowed.

Kaida smirked. "Good."

A few days later, the day of the grand opening dawned. Ino set off immediately after breakfast to hunt down the perfect outfit. Choji entered the kitchen with Hotaka to help cook for that night. Kaida stuck around, bored. She had almost decided to spend most of the day training, but had changed her mind when she saw Wakana and Shikamaru exchange a look at her near-departure that Kaida swore said they were glad she was leaving.

Kaida supposed she was no longer considered Shikamaru's girlfriend, and she told herself she didn't care. But when jealousy seemed to strike at seeing the two together, she realized she did care. She at least cared that Shikamaru found a girl good enough for him.

So when Shikamaru ducked into the kitchen to help Choji and Hotaka, she claimed Wakana for a stroll around town, talking and laughing and just generally getting to know her better.

"So what's your opinion on Shikamaru?" Kaida finally asked, just before the time they should be heading back.

Wakana seemed suddenly interested in scrutinizing each store and restaurant they passed by, not looking at Kaida. "He's a very nice man," she answered slowly, seeming to choose her words with care. "He seems lazy at times, but-" here she looked over at Kaida "-he loves you, and he'll do anything for you." She stopped, blushed, and looked away again.

Kaida stared at her for a moment, then looked up at the clouds. "That's how he used to be," she said softly. "I didn't think he still did, after..." She stopped, unwilling to tell Wakana what she had told Ino.

When it became clear Kaida would say no more, Wakana changed the subject, seeming grateful for the change in topic. "It's getting late. We should head back and get ready."

Kaida forced another grin and nodded. "Right. I bet Ino will want to do something major with my hair, and she'll need plenty of time for that!" With that, Kaida grabbed Wakana's hand and pulled her along at a half-run back to the restaurant, laughing most of the way as the girls dodged and weaved their way through whatever crowds were in their way.

As Kaida guessed, the moment she and Wakana returned, Ino pounced on them to get ready, gave them both tips on how to look more presentable, and fixed Kaida's hair just the right way. Wakana's hair style for the night, she declared, was perfect already.

When Ino finally declared the three girls finished, they walked down together to the already-crowded restaurant. Wakana picked up her violin and began playing softly in a corner with a couple other instruments and musicians. Kaida and Ino stood with Shikamaru and Choji as Hotaka welcomed them all and sent a special thanks "to the ninja from Konoha, without whom I never would have opened up again so early."

Dinner was delicious and filled with conversation and laughter. Shikamaru seemed to have his mind on other things, but Kaida figured he was just anxious to get back to Konoha. Midway through, there was a sudden silence and Kaida realized Hotaka and Wakana had grabbed everyone's attention again. Wakana held her violin as she stood silently next to her father.

"Now we will listen to someone play the violin solo," Hotaka announced. Kaida noticed he didn't say his daughter's name, but she still expected Wakana to lift the violin to her chin and begin to play.

And she was extremely surprised when Shikamaru, blushing ferociously and deadly serious, moved from his place beside her to join the father and daughter.

_'Why don't you make a fool of yourself for me?'_

That one line she had spat out in a fit of frustration eons ago came back to her now. "Shikamaru," Kaida whispered.

Wakana handed Shikamaru the violin and she and her father stepped back. Shikamaru lifted the bow to the strings and began to play. In front of more than a hundred people, he began to play. Shikamaru, who had never been able to do anything musical, began to play.

And it sounded horrid.

The look on his face was pure concentration, and yet each note sounded painfully awful. A few guests covered their ears. Kaida sent them a venomous glare that would've wilted any plant, listening intensely.

As he played what sounded vaguely like a love song she had heard a few times before, Kaida wondered how she could have been so blind. His thoughtfulness as he heard Wakana play for the first time. His spending time with Wakana more than anyone else during this mission. The terrible violin-playing she had heard as Ino entered the building after their day of shopping. The way his fingers were red where Wakana had calluses, doubtless now from all her years of playing the violin. Wakana's blush as she talked carefully of Shikamaru, because she hadn't wanted to give away the surprise, Kaida now realized. And there had probably been other hints she hadn't seen that she should have.

The last note sounded. Shikamaru had finished playing and was staring at her, his face still red from embarrassment. He seemed to be trying to gauge her reaction. She stared right back. Complete silence reigned as the guests began to realize that there may have been something more significant to the song than first appeared - or perhaps they didn't know if they were supposed to clap for Shikamaru's performance or not.

Kaida felt tears sting her eyes and make their way down her cheeks. Blurry vision caused her to trip over guests and chairs and her own feet more than once as she finally broke into motion and ran towards Shikamaru, ran towards the man she had never stopped loving, ran towards the man who had never stopped loving her.

She tackled Shikamaru in hug. "Yes, I'll marry you," she said, smiling through her tears. He slowly grinned, then leaned forward and kissed her, ignoring the crowd that saw and burst into loud applause.

**

* * *

**

Don't forget to review! 8D

EDIT: Liked Devotion? Now there's DEVOTED! It's the same thing, but from Shikamaru's point of view, so it shows some stuff not seen here in Devotion. Check Devoted out? Please? Thank you? xD


	2. Devotion 2

***legasp* Oh, wowz, it's been so long since I've published ANYTHING! o3o I could come up with tons of excuses, half of which are real, but I don't want to bore you before you read the added to, subtracted from, and otherwise very much edited... *drumroll***

**DEVOTION! x333 This took a while to do, and it's more than twice the length of the original, but hopefully it's better~ ^^ I can't bring myself to delete the original, so I guess you'll be able to compare and contrast these two versions. xD;**

**Anyways. Last chapter's disclaimer applies here. Don't make me repeat it, or I'll cry. D=**

**Enjoy! n_n~**

* * *

Kaida closed her eyes as the sun finally sank beneath the horizon. It had been a wonderful afternoon and evening spent alone with Shikamaru. Her head rested comfortably on Shikamaru's shoulder. Birds had stopped chirping a while ago, but the crickets had begun. In the park where she and Shikamaru were, there was no one else; but voices drifted in anyways from people passing nearby.

Yet not all was peaceful. Kaida was having some inner turmoil. Something had been going on recently between Kaida and Shikamaru, though neither of them acknowledged it aloud, or at least not to each other.

Lately, Shikamaru had been hinting at proposing. In fact, he'd been doing it for the past month. A _month_! Kaida had never given him a straight answer, even hinting back at the possibility of rejection this last week.

Kaida had started out just wanting an official proposal before she would give him the yes he wanted, but she'd begun to be annoyed enough she might even reject him if he ever _finally_ did the thing right.

On the other hand, maybe she should just bluntly tell him how sick she was of the hints rather than the real thing.

Her train of thought was broken as Shikamaru shifted his position. Kaida opened her eyes and lifted her head to see Shikamaru get to his feet. He took her hand, but it didn't feel like a helping hand to pull her to her own feet.

Instead, she watched by the glow of the full moon as he knelt.

"Kaida, I've told you more times than I can count how much I love you," he said softly, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. "But there's something more I've been meaning to say for a while." He paused, and she knew his next words before he spoke them. Had he been reading her mind? "Kaida Yukiten, will you marry me?"

"No."

Her answer was out before she even think, but Shikamaru seemed to take it well. He smirked lightly, teasingly, and shoved his hands into his pockets as he stood again. "I had a feeling you'd say that," he muttered, his tone betraying the disappointment that he didn't show through his actions. "How many times and in how many different ways are you going to want me to ask before you'll say yes?"

He'd hit the nail on the head. Kaida shouldn't have been surprised. Having known each other for about fifteen years had its advantages.

"If you're so smart, shouldn't you be able to figure it out?" Kaida grinned, then her look darkened as she watched him. He had just been rejected. Was it pride on his part that kept him from showing more disappointment? Or pride on her part that made her mad that he wasn't?

"You're always so smart, silent, considerate. Always ready to give me anything."

He raised an eyebrow at her, apparently confused at her sudden change in tone. Kaida barely caught his mumbled "What a drag." She thought he said more, but couldn't hear it.

Kaida took a deep breath and looked away from him, staring at nothing in particular. A sudden surge of anger bubbled up. Did the man even _have_ any faults? He did, of course; but at that particular moment, she couldn't think of any to save her life. "Just once, I'd like to see you _not_ the perfect man," she said firmly, maybe even harshly. "Why don't you make a fool of yourself for me?"

She left him right then and there, before either of them could say anything more.

* * *

He hadn't followed her, hadn't tried to stop her.

The next morning, as that fact and the conversation beforehand sank in, Kaida felt even worse. She fumed quietly to herself as she threw some clothes on and marched out to her former squad's training field. They had ceased being a squad together a few years ago, but they still got together for training whenever they could.

It didn't take long for her former team to figure out something was wrong. Kaida and her male teammate Hotori had never gotten along; but that morning, they were on worse terms than they had been in years. They argued for about fifteen minutes straight before Haru-sensei intervened.

Her sensei's sense of humor failed to get even a glimmer of a smile, when normally he'd receive at least a smirk and usually a laugh.

And Kyra, Kaida's best friend... Kaida could've kicked herself when she practically bit her female teammate's head off for what was merely friendly teasing.

"Oh, Kyra, I'm so sorry; I didn't mean it," Kaida said immediately, biting her lip to the point of drawing blood.

"No, I shouldn't have teased in the first place. I knew you weren't in a very good mood," Kyra replied softly.

"I know you were just trying to help," Kaida said, giving her a wan smile.

After a moment's pause, Kyra asked, "Want to talk about it?"

She didn't really, and yet she did. This was her best friend here, and Kaida had been the one Kyra had gone to when Kyra and Hotori had broken up.

So Kaida gave Kyra the details of the night before. Kyra had already been told of Kaida's frustration about Shikamaru's hints rather than getting immediately to the point, so it was relatively simple to repeat what had been said.

It was Kaida's line of thought the night before that was complicated. She wasn't sure how to explain that, but Kyra seemed to be able to connect the dots anyways. She was empathetic enough to read between the lines, especially when it came to people she knew well.

However, just as Kyra opened her mouth to make a response, Haru-sensei called over to them: "Kaida, Lady Tsunade wants to see you! She's going to give you details for a mission with another squad."

Kaida exhaled slowly and nodded at her sensei. "See you later, I guess, Kyra," she said.

Kyra nodded, and then Kaida was gone.

* * *

Kaida tried to pull herself together as Lady Tsunade described the mission, but she was so focused on appearing as though nothing was wrong that she missed most of the details. All she really heard was that she was to pack and meet the squad she was to work with at the gate in half an hour.

Kaida was ready in half the time, actually looking forward to some time away from Konoha. Maybe with some time away from Shikamaru, she'd be able to pull herself together and figure out what _exactly_ had happened the night before. Or maybe she'd be able to forget about it altogether.

Just talking to Kyra had helped calm Kaida down, had gotten her to release some of the tension; and it had also caused her to forget why exactly she was so mad at him. She had snapped at him so badly for proposing. Why? So maybe by the time she saw him again, they both would have forgotten the previous night had ever happened.

But before Kaida had really relaxed, she saw something that plunged her back into even deeper anger and tension and confusion.

Ino came into sight carrying a backpack, followed by Choji. The two waved to her and called out greetings.

Kaida felt as though she'd been punched in the gut as she choked out cheerful replies. _This_ was the squad she was working with?

There was no sign yet of Shikamaru, though. Maybe he wouldn't be coming. Maybe...

Just her luck, Shikamaru rounded a corner and approached, also carrying a backpack.

Why couldn't she just bail on this mission altogether? Kaida was seriously considering the idea, but the thought of explaining to Lady Tsunade wasn't exactly appealing. And the Hokage and Ino were both medical ninja, so faking sick would get Kaida nowhere.

Ino sighed dramatically as she reached the place where Kaida stood. "This mission is going to be the worst. I mean, we're _ninja_, for goodness' sake, not _movers_. I can't believe our mission is to just relocate someone!" she complained.

Kaida forced a grin, focusing on Ino's topic choice as a way to avoid saying anything to Shikamaru. Besides, since she had zoned out while Lady Tsunade was describing the mission to her, an update was good. She began to say something, but Choji broke in between bites of chips.

"We're not helping just anyone move, Ino," he reminded her. "A world-renowned _restaurant owner _and _chef_. He needs our help setting up, and maybe he'll reward us with some of his famous food."

Kaida laughed. "As we'll be staying with him for the duration of the mission, I'm sure we'll have that chance. Besides," she added to Ino, "maybe there will be some action. I mean, you could always chip a nail or something."

Ino rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Kaida. But speaking of which, didn't Lady Tsunade mention something about... Oh, I forget; what's the word?"

Kaida couldn't answer. For one thing, she couldn't for the life of her remember what Lady Tsunade had said. For another, she was suddenly aware of Shikamaru's eyes on her. She didn't look at him, but she could definitely feel him watching her.

"She said something about stalkers, I think," Choji answered thoughtfully. "But she didn't go into details about that part."

"All the more reason we should get started, then," Shikamaru said.

Kaida rubbed her arm and developed a sudden interest in the trees outside the village gate.

"Right," Ino agreed, setting off. Kaida forced another laugh and ran ahead, not bothering to wait to see how fast the others were going.

* * *

The group of four spent the day walking along the road that would eventually lead them to the town they were needed at, stopping once for lunch and again for supper. Kaida spent the day tense and bored, trying to pass most of the time by talking and laughing with Ino and Choji. Once, during a lull in conversation, she tilted her head back to watch the clouds float past, but snapped it back down when she remembered it was one of Shikamaru's favorite pastimes. She scolded herself for being so pathetic and even childish, but she didn't return her gaze to the sky again.

Just before night fell, they set up camp and chatted for a while around a fire. Close to an hour later, Ino shooed the boys off, claiming to want a girl-chat by the light of the fire. Choji rolled his eyes but complied with minimal complaining, crawling into one of the two tents. After a long look at Kaida (which she ignored and stared instead at the fire's flickering colors), Shikamaru followed his friend.

"All right," Ino began softly when Shikamaru was in the tent. "What's wrong?"

Kaida looked over at Ino with feigned surprise and innocence. "What do you mean?"

Ino smirked. "You've hardly said two words to your boyfriend all day. What'd you do, break up or something? That's kind of hard to believe." She refilled her glass with water.

Kaida clenched her fist, even more reluctant to talk about it with Ino, since the two girls didn't always agree when it came to boys in general – and that was an understatement. It had, however, gotten better as they both matured, so Kaida decided 'Why not?'

"...Shikamaru wants to buy me a ring."

Ino choked on her drink. Silence reigned for a while, then Ino broke it. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Kaida shrugged. "I'm not really sure; I've been trying to forget what happened. Right now, I can't decide if I hate him or love him." She was leaning more towards hate. "Maybe I'm just being stupid."

She couldn't remember exactly what all had been said, but the negative emotions from that night were still sharply embedded in her memory. She also remembered her sharp disappointment that he hadn't followed her or tried to stop her.

Thinking about it just sent more flashes of pain and anger through Kaida's heart. She tried again to forget it.

Ino cocked her head to the side, her eyes slightly narrowed in concentration as she considered Kaida. "Mind telling me why you would hate him? You two have been tight since the Academy."

Kaida shrugged again, hating the feeling of helplessness that came with the gesture, and returned her attention to the dying fire. "He's a genius, funny when he wants to be, serious most other times, quiet a lot. He acts as though he never wants to do anything 'too troublesome', yet he'll risk his life for me and any other friend in a heartbeat. He demolishes me at thinking games. He hardly ever displays weakness."

"You sound like you're listing all his good points."

"I am," Kaida answered, a trace of bitterness in her voice. She glanced back at her friend to see understanding begin to dawn, then Ino giggled.

"What?" Kaida asked.

"Oh, just that they say love is blind. And I don't remember hearing of anyone disliking that fact," Ino grinned.

Kaida rolled her eyes and crawled into the tent she was sharing with Ino.

* * *

The next morning was spent much the same as the previous one. Kaida laughed and talked enough with Ino and Choji to give herself a headache; and this time she made it a point to include Shikamaru in some of the topics, still conscious of last night's conversation where Ino had mentioned that she had hardly talked with Shikamaru. She made an extra effort to pretend everything was normal.

They found themselves at their destination about an hour after lunch. It was a large building; the interior held many boxes and tables and chairs and fake plants and several other items. People were running around, sticking things in boxes and stacking chairs. None of them paid any attention to the newcomers. The upstairs, Kaida guessed, led to where the owner or owners lived, probably stuffed with more evidence of moving. Violin music drifted down from the upstairs.

For some reason, Shikamaru seemed distracted for a few moments, but before Kaida could determine why he would, he went back to normal. Then, just as he was about to approach one of the workers, an older man came down the stairs, saw them, and walked up to them.

"You're ninjas, aren't you?" he asked warily, motioning to their headbands.

Shikamaru nodded. "We're from Konohagakure, here to help move some things and protect the owner from... Whatever that threat was that was mentioned when hiring us."

"Ah, yes!" The man's suspicion gave way to relief, and his entire face brightened. "Wakana!" he called up the stairs.

The violin music stopped and, moments later, a young woman appeared. "Yes, Father?" she asked, smiling at the ninjas.

"These young people are the ninja we hired," the man said, patting his daughter on her shoulder. He turned back to the four ninjas. "My name is Hotaka; I'm the owner and employer around here, your client. This is my daughter, Wakana."

"Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and Kaida," Shikamaru said, motioning to each person as he said their names. "Just tell us what to do. And it would help if you'd let us know what we're supposed to be watching out for while we're here."

Hotaka nodded slowly. "Why don't you come with me," he said to Shikamaru. "Your friends can start helping my movers with the rest of the packing."

In seconds, Ino, Choji, and Kaida were all busy stuffing things into boxes. They met and chatted with the other movers, but after a while, there was little conversation. Everyone focused on their tasks. After about twenty minutes, Kaida noticed Shikamaru joining in.

The chore lasted the rest of the day. Finally, around six o'clock, the movers cleared out of the store with the promise to return bright and early the next day. Not long after, Hotaka announced to his shinobi guests that supper was ready.

As they were eating, a flash of movement outside caught Kaida's attention. Was it her imagination, or was someone lurking just outside one of the windows? Anytime she stared at that spot, she would see nothing unusual; but in her peripheral vision, there would, every so often, be movement of some kind. She glanced at Choji and Ino, but if they saw anything, they didn't show it.

Maybe she was just seeing things.

And yet, after supper, Kaida declined sitting to talk with everyone else, at least temporarily. Instead, she slipped outside with the intention to walk the perimeter of first the building, then the property. She had taken two steps when she noticed that Choji had joined her.

"You didn't want to stay inside with everyone else?" Kaida asked, cocking her head and grinning at him.

"I was actually just about to ask you the same thing," Choji answered.

Kaida started walking and motioned for her friend to follow, relieved that she had a very plausible excuse ready. "I thought I saw something out here during supper. I just wanted to check it out. Have you heard what the threat is, or who any stalkers might be?"

Choji shook his head. "As far as I know, only Shikamaru's been told. You could ask him."

Kaida tripped over a root sticking out of the ground, barely managing to right herself before she fell. "I was just curious. It's no big deal if Hotaka doesn't want the rest of us to know."

"You're avoiding him, Kaida."

"So what if I am? It's not as if he cares," Kaida shot back before she could stop herself. Saying something like 'Yeah, right' or 'Who, Hotaka? You've gotta be kidding' probably would have been better.

"You're wrong," Choji responded quietly.

With difficulty, Kaida had to bite her tongue to stop herself from lashing out at him, too. Instead, she paused at the window where she thought she had seen someone.

Footprints.

But that didn't necessarily mean anything. This was a restaurant, after all. Unless it had rained recently, the prints could belong to a customer. Or it could even more easily be one of the movers. She looked for any other clues, but failed to find any.

Choji respectfully remained silent as she searched, but when she continued walking again, he spoke. "Remember when we were back at the Academy? All the trouble we got in together?"

Kaida, though wary of where he was going with this, couldn't help but grin at the memories. "Iruka-sensei had his hands full with the three of us, plus Naruto and Kiba, that's for sure."

"I remember one time you got us in trouble by screaming 'mouse!'" Choji chuckled.

"_Me_?" Kaida lightly punched him. "The way I remember it, _you_ were the one that shouted 'mouse!'"

"We were ten; the details are sketchy," Choji defended himself.

Kaida laughed, trying to better remember that day. "Good times."

Choji nodded his agreement. "I also remember that time you and Shikamaru—"

He was suddenly broken off by Ino, who called from the door, "Kaida! Choji! Come on back in; there's something Shikamaru wants to tell us!"

Because Choji was still with her, Kaida tried not to stiffen. She couldn't keep all the chill from her voice, though, as she said, "Go on, Choji. I just want to finish up out here first."

Choji gave her a knowing and disapproving look, but he did as she requested.

When he was out of sight, Kaida punched a nearby oak tree once, imagining it as Shikamaru. It barely helped any, but at least it did somewhat. She leaned her forehead against the trunk, sighed, then pushed away and finished circling the building before heading to the edge of the property to glance around there.

The sun had set by the time she was halfway done, and she resolved to come back out during the day to learn her way around the place. They probably wouldn't be staying here too much longer, but at least it was something to do to get her mind off of... Well, it was just something to do.

Suddenly, the hair on the back of Kaida's neck rose. She stood stock-still and listened, hardly daring to breathe. No sound, but occasionally a shadow seemed to move. With the moon momentarily behind the clouds, she couldn't see much at all. The wind rustled through the trees' branches.

Kaida ducked to the right. Just barely to her left, something big hit the ground heavily. She kicked at it and heard a grunt. 'It' was apparently human.

Someone else tackled her from behind, and Kaida connected with the ground with a thud. There seemed to be a few new stars added to the sky. A small voice in the back of her head shouted that she should've been able to throw her attacker off immediately instead of falling to the ground along with him or her.

She had no weapons on her at the moment, but with difficulty, she managed to shove her attacker off. A few quick handsigns, and she had an ice dagger in her hand. Without knowing exactly where her enemy was, she couldn't really do much. It would probably be best if she avoided blanketing Hotaka's property in snow – besides, that jutsu used way too much chakra when she didn't do it in combination with Hotori. All she could see if she strained were merely impressions that kept moving.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Kaida yelled louder than necessary, hoping someone inside the building might hear, or at least come and see what was taking her so long.

A cloth was tied over her mouth by yet _another_ person. Before she could try to stab behind her, one of the people in front of her leaped forward and grabbed her wrists, twisting her arm so that she had to drop her dagger.

Kaida thrust her foot forward, but the third person caught it before she did anything. Not long afterwards, she felt rope being wrapped around her arms and legs. Wonderful.

Minutes later, Kaida was pushed to the ground in a heap.

"Well, we beat her," one of them, male, whispered. "What now, genius?"

"Let's leave her here like this all night as a warning to the rest of them!" another man cackled. This one sounded slightly younger than the other.

Disapproving silence met this remark, until finally he said, "What? You asked!"

"He was talking to me! And that was the most pathetic excuse for a plan I've ever heard!" a third, female, voice scolded.

"But he always calls _me_ genius!"

Kaida was almost positive that if it was brighter out, she would have seen one or both of the others roll their eyes.

Suddenly, all three dropped to the ground; and a moment later, Kaida realized why.

"Kaida, are you still out here?" Ino called.

Silence. Kaida struggled to rise, but she was shoved back down and pinned.

Ino sighed. "Shikamaru's gone to bed already, if that's what's keeping you out here!"

Kaida tried to make as much noise as possible through the gag, but it wasn't anywhere near enough.

The sound of a door slamming echoed into the night.

"There's only one thing we _can_ do right now," the girl next to Kaida whispered. "We'll—"

"Aw, we're not gonna kill her, are we?" one whined. It sounded like the first one who had spoken. "I always hate it when you say that; it always makes such a mess, and it's boring, too, when they're tied up like this."

"Fine," the woman snapped, still taking care to keep her voice down. "We'll take her with us – as long as _you_ agree to be the one to take all responsibility should she escape. If she causes any problems whatsoever..." She left the threat hanging there.

"Pssh, no problem. Either she's really weak, or she was really unfocused tonight. It'll be no sweat all the way."

Kaida felt herself being lifted, and she was thrown over a shoulder like a heavy sack. She kicked her carrier in the stomach with both feet and was rewarded with a grunt of pain before he pinned her legs to his chest with his other arm.

* * *

Some time and distance later, they entered a building. Someone turned on the lights, and the 'genius' screamed.

"My eyes! I can't SEE!"

Kaida wished she could scream back at him, "My ears! I can't HEAR!" Unfortunately, the gag was still firmly in place.

However, the woman did do the second thing Kaida wished she could: She punched him and told him to shut up. "Your eyes will adjust!"

Kaida's own eyes were trying to do just that. Meanwhile, the other man carried her into another room, flipped on the light, dumped her on the floor, and left, closing the door behind him.

Hating them for capturing her, and hating herself for making it so easy for them, Kaida struggled into a sitting position. She seemed to be in a bedroom. There were no clothes in the open closet, but a suitcase lay open not far from Kaida, and several discarded clothing articles were strewn around the room.

Kaida scowled in concentration as she tested the actual strength of the ropes binding her. The ropes were thick enough she couldn't break out of them by merely forcing her arms away from each other, and they were tied tightly enough that Kaida couldn't wriggle out by trying to eventually loosen the knot. The latter fact surprised her somewhat, since good knot-tying took skill not required in battle, something she wouldn't have associated with these three.

For one thing, it would have been much smarter to kill her. For another, Kaida wasn't locked in. The door could be locked or unlocked from Kaida's side of the door, and Kaida could see a window from where she sat. They must have a _lot_ of confidence in their rope and knots.

If only she could untie herself. Kaida brought her knees up to her chin, but even if she wasn't gagged, she wouldn't be able to reach and bite the ropes around her legs.

Her eyes searched the room, wondering if they were even stupid enough leave a few weapons or even just plain sharp objects within her reach.

No such luck.

Pointless though it seemed at the moment, Kaida struggled against the knots tied at her wrists and ankles. Then a sudden commotion made her focus her attention on the door.

Hard as she tried, Kaida couldn't make out what was going on exactly. However, it sounded like a fight, and Kaida even thought she heard Choji yelling something about his weight, so she decided it was safe to assume help had arrived and had been insulted.

By the time the door burst open, not only were Kaida's arms and legs tired and sore from struggling, but they were stiff and asleep from lack of sufficient movement and blood circulation.

The man that had carried her here opened and closed the door so fast he barely had time to slip in, never mind letting Kaida see anything out. He was breathing heavily and reaching for Kaida's throat with a kunai when the door flew open again and the man froze.

"You dare to touch her, and I'll kill you where you stand."

Shikamaru. For crying out loud, why couldn't it have been Ino or Choji?

Kaida glanced down at the man's feet and saw what she'd expected – his shadow stretched back and connected with Shikamaru's.

"She's alive thanks to me, you know; my partners were going to kill her!" the man said desperately. "A life for a life, that's how it goes, right? Especially for honorable shinobi of the Leaf, I've heard. Come on, I've got a puppy and kittens, and a little fish whose life depends on mine!"

That last bit was the most pathetic excuse for a plea that Kaida had ever heard, but Shikamaru didn't activate any of his more lethal techniques.

Instead, he back up so that his victim was forced to back up out of the room. "Choji!"

Giant hands grabbed the man; and when Shikamaru released his jutsu, Choji pulled the man out of Kaida's line of view.

Shikamaru rushed forward and didn't even give the knots a passing glance. Instead, he slashed through them with a kunai, moving swiftly, yet slowly enough to be careful he didn't cut her along with the ropes. The sudden release made Kaida gasp. Shikamaru gave her an apologetic glance as he then removed the gag.

Shikamaru offered his hand to help her stand, but Kaida glared at him and batted it away, rising to her feet on her own. Her legs, tingling badly and useless at the moment, fell out from under her. Before she hit the floor again, however, Shikamaru caught her.

"Easy," he murmured softly into her hair. (Kaida even dared to think he might have said it lovingly, but she pushed that thought away the same second it formed.)

Kaida was very conscious of one of his arms around her waist, and the other hand at her elbow. "Let go of me!" she ordered.

"You're welcome for saving you," Shikamaru said as he did as she said, his tone now clipped with annoyance.

Kaida wobbled but didn't fall. "I'd've been fine on my own! I'll have you know I had the entire situation under control. But, of course, you just _had_ to act like those idiot, sappy, '_perfect_'_—_" she spat out the word as if it were poison "—knights out of fairy tales and rescue the 'damsel in distress,' didn't you?"

Shikamaru simply stared at her steadily, his face betraying nothing as to what was going through his mind.

"Arg! Do _not_ talk to me (OR touch me!) _at least_ for the rest of the night, Shikamaru Nara!" Kaida pushed past him and stormed outside, not even glancing at Choji, and barely noticing that Ino wasn't there. She would wait for them outside, but only because she couldn't find her way back to the restaurant on her own.

* * *

"You're back! Oh, thank goodness; are you alright?" Ino asked the moment Kaida stepped in the door. Shikamaru and Choji were right behind her, and the three that had taken Kaida captive were immediately after. (Their nearly-maimed state had surprised Kaida at first; then she'd shrugged it off, deciding that it had probably been necessary to get them to stop fighting back.)

"I'm fine," Kaida said shortly. At Ino's warning glance, Kaida obediently checked her temper and lengthened her response. "Seriously, all I have are minor bruises, Ino. I'm sorry for worrying you, and... I probably should have come in with Choji when you called," she admitted. No one would ever know how much she regretted it.

Ino relaxed and shifted her gaze to Hotaka and Wakana, who sat side-by-side behind her. "You can rest easy and let us deal with this. I doubt anything else will happen tonight."

Hotaka nodded gratefully. He turned to Kaida, and she inwardly cringed. But what he said wasn't what she expected. "It's good to see that you're okay, Kaida. And who knows, if you hadn't been outside and been such a tempting target, my Wakana might have been taken instead and fared much worse."

Kaida blushed, not from the praise or thanks, but from shame. Had she been inside and not been such a tempting target, perhaps the three enemies would have been taken out more easily. Anywhere in the building was in hearing distance if someone screamed or called for backup. She was a _jonin_, for goodness' sake; she was supposed to be better than this!

But all she said was, "Yeah, well, half our mission is to protect you, after all."

Hotaka went upstairs and was followed by his daughter moments later.

"Would someone mind letting me know what I missed while I was outside this evening?" Kaida asked.

Shikamaru, who hadn't said a word to Kaida since she'd yelled at him not to, silently marched the three who had captured Kaida to some chairs that had yet to be put away for the move.

"Hotaka told us the reason he'd hired ninjas for protection as he moved. He had a rich customer a while back that liked his cooking so much that he wanted to hire him and his daughter to work for him – and, of course, the man would get all his cooking and recipe secrets along with it," Choji answered. "But since Hotaka liked being his own boss, he refused."

"The guy didn't want to give up, though," Ino continued. "He kept offering payments increasingly higher as Hotaka kept refusing – even outrageous offers that would've made most people say yes in a heartbeat."

"The man finally got mad and left, but not before threatening that he'd regret refusing," Choji said. "A little while later, Wakana started having 'accidents' anytime she strayed far from the restaurant."

Kaida raised an eyebrow. "Accidents?"

Ino nodded. "A flowerpot just 'happened' to fall from a high-up window when Wakana was walking by, narrowly missing her. Then someone's vicious guard dog just 'happened' to break loose when she was nearby - a little too close for comfort, I guess. And then... Well, you get the picture. Hotaka figured that it was that previous customer, but he couldn't prove anything against him, couldn't really even prove they _weren't_ just accidents."

"When Hotaka made Wakana stay at the restaurant and he went to run any errands... Well, two things happened, actually. At first, those things just started happening to him instead. But later, things started going wrong _inside_ the restaurant," Choji said. "I forget what exactly they said happened, but it got harder and harder to offer good service, much less cook something halfway decent. His workers started quitting left and right as the situation got more dangerous to more people than just Hotaka and Wakana."

"I think I'm starting to connect the dots here," Kaida mused. "Let me guess what happened next: He decided to try and move away from this threat. But since moving takes time, he'd still be vulnerable to all this for a while. So that's why he hired us. Am I warm?"

"Burning up," Ino confirmed.

"Hotaka's never suspected until tonight that he was working against ninjas," Choji added. "Shikamaru thinks the guy caught wind of Hotaka's hire, so he got a ninja team of his own to counter us. From the Hidden Rain Village, according to their headbands."

"I could see that much. But running away isn't going to work for Hotaka," Kaida said. "He'd need constant bodyguards to keep this customer guy – does he have a name?" she interrupted herself to ask.

"Kanaye Leiko," Choji said. "And you're right. The only way we can really do this mission right is to whoever's behind all this and bring him back to Konoha."

"Choji, you and Kaida should probably head off to bed, get some sleep," Shikamaru said, speaking for the first time in a while. (Kaida didn't miss the fact that he wasn't speaking directly to her. She _had_ told him not to, but wouldn't he do it anyways if he actually cared? Even a little? Ugh, she hated him.) "Ino, would you mind staying up and helping me interrogate these guys?"

"Sure," Ino agreed.

Without a word, Kaida marched up the stairs and into a room that she had, earlier in the day, been told would be her own while she was here. Though she was physically tired and drained, she wasn't the least bit sleepy. It took a while for her to relax enough to fall asleep.

* * *

Kaida woke up later to the sound of violin music. She opened her eyes and blinked at the light streaming in her window. What time was it?

Kaida threw on some clothes and went downstairs, yawning. "Morning," she said to Ino, the first person she saw. The movers were running around packing again; Hotaka was supervising; and Wakana played her violin in a corner. Shikamaru and Choji were nowhere within sight.

Ino grinned. "Barely. In another two minutes, it'll be the afternoon."

Kaida cringed. "Why didn't someone wake me?" she demanded.

"You had a long night; Shikamaru wanted to let you rest," Ino said.

Kaida scowled. "I'm not weak."

Ino sighed. "Oh, honestly, Kaida, that wasn't why he— Can't you just do the whole forgive-and-forget or kiss-and-make-up thing?"

"What did you learn from your interrogation last night?"

Ino frowned, but Kaida didn't back down. Finally, Ino accepted Kaida's topic change. "They all recently became chunin; this was only their second major assignment as a squad of their own. When they saw you out alone last night, they came up with an on-the-spot idea to just take all of us ninja out one by one. They admitted that we were their mission, or at least part of it, but they wouldn't say who hired them, even when Shikamaru tried to surprise them with the name Kanaye Leiko."

Kaida waited, but when Ino didn't say anything more, Kaida asked, "That's it?"

"Unfortunately, yes. They're not stubbornly silent; they just keep insisting that that's all they know. Shikamaru and Choji went back to the place they found you, hoping there will be some answers among their things there."

"I see." Kaida bent down and started helping the movers with some boxes. "Where are our three 'guests' now?"

"Bound hand and foot and stuck in the basement, with the only exit both locked and barred. Unless they've got some kind of _really_ subtle jutsu to get themselves out, we should know the instant they even attempt an escape. Besides, if you go near the door, chances are you'll hear them arguing with each other."

Kaida smirked. "Figures."

After a few moments of silence, Ino changed the subject to less serious matters, and the two kunoichi set to work – only to be interrupted five minutes later by lunch.

Around midafternoon, Shikamaru and Choji returned. Ino jumped them immediately to ask about what they found, while Kaida kept working. She did listen, though, as well as watch out of the corner of her eye.

Shikamaru held up a slip of paper with something scribbled onto it. "This is the only thing of significance," he said. "But it could be all we need. It's a note that says when and where the three Rain ninja are to meet to give a report of what they've done so far and to receive further instruction."

"Their employer will probably be there!" Ino said, her eyes lighting up.

"Here's hoping," Choji agreed.

* * *

That night after supper, Wakana brought down her violin to play for them. She played happy and sad songs both, lively and slow, and somewhere in between. Kaida saw Choji shoot Shikamaru a look and wished she understood what it meant.

The next day passed without much event. The Konoha ninja spent it packing alongside the movers.

Once, Ino managed to catch Kaida off guard and get her working near Shikamaru. The look she sent Kaida was clear: _Make up with him!_

The silence at that point in the day seemed far too loud.

Kaida wished for this mission to be over.

Finally, after another day had passed, they were ready to move the things. Hotaka's new restaurant building wasn't far, but it seemed that way to Kaida when the next day they began moving the many boxes. Shikamaru had assigned her to stick with Hotaka as the man went back and forth between his former and future homes. And, of course, Kaida was expected to carry as many boxes with her as she could handle.

To make the trips worse, Shikamaru and Wakana hardly separated during the day, as far as Kaida was aware. She couldn't help but feel jealousy creep up at seeing them together. One time when she saw them, there was a secretively pleased expression on Shikamaru's face, and Wakana was beside him giggling delightedly.

Kaida was immediately distracted, though, as a large and heavy box was shoved into her arms by Hotaka. With difficulty, she turned her attention to him as he described his new place proudly, as if she hadn't already seen it.

"I'll be able to fit even more people into it," he continued. "More people means more business, which means more money, which means more food items can be bought and made into a recipe and added to the menu, which means more business. It's a never-ending cycle. Soon I'll probably be moving to _another_ bigger building!" He quieted momentarily. "Although, I do hope that next time I move, it will be by choice, not because it's necessary for safety reasons."

* * *

The day finally dawned that the three Rain ninja were to give their report. Shikamaru outlined their plan that morning, and the four set off, giving Hotaka and Wakana warnings to ensure that the captives never got a chance to escape.

Kaida crouched out of sight behind some bushes, watching Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru walk into the building. Her comrades were transformed into the Rain ninja. Kaida chafed at being left behind, but there was no fourth teammate she could transform into. Her orders were clear – she was to stay outside, unseen, and catch anyone who tried to escape.

Boring.

Obviously, Shikamaru didn't want her with him. Not that she cared about that, of course (she hated him; if anything, she should be grateful about not being forced to be near him, right?); Kaida just wanted some action. She might not get any this way.

She was also supposed to gather what information she could by listening to any conversations. And fortunately, if a fight broke out and the transformation jutsus broke, Kaida could join.

Kaida watched the building, gazing through the windows often. It wasn't a big building, merely average-sized. And there didn't seem to be too many people inside – at least, not that Kaida could see.

She moved quickly and quietly to the roof, taking care where she placed her feet. No windows were open, so Kaida could hear nothing inside. The minutes passed like multiple eternities, dragging by unbelievably slowly.

Suddenly, Kaida heard some commotion over on another side of the building. She crawled over there; then, unable to risk looking through the window at this close a distance, Kaida jumped to a nearby tree. Hidden as best she could in its branches, she tried to piece together what was happening by her short and small glimpses.

One sighting of Ino looking like herself again was all Kaida needed. She jumped through the window, shattering the glass, and joined the fight.

"Mind filling me in here?" she called, tackling someone.

"Their boss isn't here," Ino said. Kaida suddenly found herself back-to-back with the kunoichi. "Someone recognized that my person's personality was off, and attacked. That triggered what you see here."

"I don't believe this," Kaida muttered. "What a waste of time."

"Maybe not," Choji said, joining the girls after using a gigantic hand to knock someone out of his way. "Shikamaru still looks pretty optimistic."

Kaida scowled. "Shikamaru's looked optimistic ever since he started hanging out more with Wakana," she retorted.

Ino giggled as she kicked back someone who had tried to attack. Kaida refused to respond.

Instead, Kaida pointed to a ninja making a run for it. "I've got this guy covered," she said, pulling out a new kunai threateningly. She was about to run after and attack the runaway, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Follow, but do not engage," Shikamaru told her. "He's a messenger, probably going to his boss – the one we're looking for."

Kaida shrugged his hand off and glared at him. "Yes, sir." She shoved her kunai back into her weapons pouch and took off, maintaining a certain distance back from her target. It wasn't difficult to make sure he didn't see her once they hit the forest around the building.

She tailed the messenger for about fifteen minutes, almost losing him once or twice but always managing to find him again.

The messenger finally stopped in front of a middle-aged, expensively-dressed man flanked by two other men who wore headbands with the Hidden Rain Village symbol.

Kaida stopped behind a tree to listen, glancing discreetly around the trunk to watch as well.

"Mr. Leiko, sir," the messenger said. "I have bad news to report."

Kanaye Leiko. So he _was_ the one behind this.

"Let me guess, you're out of hot chocolate again?" Kanaye sneered.

The messenger lowered his head. "Actually, yes." He glanced back up quickly. "But that's not why I'm here! Sir, it would seem your squad sent to eliminate the enemy ninja has not done their job. We were attacked not even an hour ago by Leaf shinobi."

Kanaye's expression darkened. "Then why aren't you there fighting them off, you fool?" he demanded.

"I was! But... They're too strong. Your target, that chef, must have hired talented jonin for his protection."

"Jonin shmonin! I may have hired mostly chunin, but you _do_ have numbers on your side, correct?"

"Yes, sir, but—"

"No excuses! You fail to follow my orders, I refuse to pay you! Kenta! Raiden!"

The two shinobi beside Kanaye straightened. "Sir!"

"It's time I stopped messing around and got to the main issue here. Bring me Hotaka, no matter who you have to crush along your way."

"Oh, no you don't."

Kaida nearly fell off her branch at the sound of Shikamaru's voice. She'd been so focused on the conversation that she hadn't realized Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji had all shown up nearby and, until just now, out of sight of those on the ground.

She hated being surprised like that, especially since she _should_ have heard them coming.

"I guess this means half our mission is a wrap, huh, Shikamaru?" Choji said, smiling.

"We still have to actually catch them, but then yeah, looks like," Shikamaru said. "Ino, you stay up here. Kaida, Choji, let's go."

Kaida might have resented being given yet another order if she hadn't been champing at the bit to get a good fight. She leapt into action.

Kaida had assumed, when Kanaye had said that most of his ninja were chunin, that the two bodyguards he had with him were jonin. However, if they were, they didn't show it. Kaida, completely focused this time, didn't have to use any of her ninjutsu against them; going with strong taijutsu, especially when it came to Choji's taijutsu, seemed to be enough.

* * *

Later, the four Leaf ninja had gathered all the Rain ninja (even the ones who had captured Kaida) together in a big room in Hotaka's restaurant. Shikamaru stood in front of them all, while Kaida, Ino, and Choji stood to the side, with Hotaka and Wakana sitting next to them.

They had just finished pumping each individual Rain ninja for all the information they would give. Most of the ninja Kaida had questioned had been willing enough to talk – especially when she made it clear with a kunai at their throats that she wanted any and all information that would prove more valuable to her than their pathetic lives. And along the way, she had been given some very much unwanted information concerning the personal lives of a couple of them.

"Listen up, because I'm not going to repeat myself," Shikamaru said. "Put short and simply, we're going to let you go back to your village on the condition that you forget you were ever hired for this mission. But take one even partly suspicious step towards Hotaka and his daughter... Well, it may be cliché, but we _will_ kill you."

Someone in the back screamed.

Kaida held back a smirk. That was some ninja, brave in the face of threats (and original ones, at that). Not.

Shikamaru chopped off one ninja's binds, who turned and undid a couple of his comrades' before leaving, presumably to go back to his village. Soon they had all left.

Choji finished off his family-sized bag of barbeque potato chips, tossed the empty bag, and walked over to Shikamaru. "What are we gonna do with Kanaye?"

Shikamaru put his hands in his pockets and thought for a second. "I'll make arrangements for him to be put somewhere until the rest of our mission is over. Then we'll take him back to Konoha with us and come to a decision there about what to do with him in the long run."

Hotaka ran his hands through his hair, then stood. "I want to thank you ninja for stopping this threat."

"All in a day's work for shinobi," Kaida grinned.

Wakana got up to stand next to her father. "To show our appreciation, we'd like for you to have tomorrow off – don't even think about helping out with moving anything," she giggled.

They were still moving, even though they weren't being stalked anymore? Well, they had started the moving process. Kaida supposed it made sense to finish it.

Ino grinned evilly at Kaida. "What do you say we go shopping tomorrow, Kaida?" she asked, her voice poisoningly sweet. "Your wardrobe _always_ has room for improvement!"

Something told Kaida Ino was not going to take no for an answer.

* * *

Sure enough, Ino dragged Kaida out for shopping the next day, in spite of protests that Kaida didn't need any more clothes and that she didn't care what Ino thought of her fashion sense and that there were a hundred other things Kaida would rather be doing. And it just got worse when Kaida saw, as she was leaving with Ino, Wakana loop her arm through Shikamaru's and lead him upstairs.

One way or another, Ino got Kaida to blow much more than half of the money she had brought with on clothes – one fancy dress in particular. If asked later how Ino had talked her into it, she never would be able to remember, or perhaps she just didn't want to tell.

Most of the day, though, was spent on Ino trying on clothes, not Kaida.

"How do I look in this?" she asked, only to ditch it for another outfit. "Do you think I'd look younger in this?" "What do you think of this?"

Halfway through the day, Kaida simply grabbed a book and gave a noncommittal "hmmm" or "mhmm" each time Ino asked her opinion.

Ino was loaded down with shopping bags by the time she was ready to return, whereas Kaida had only two, plus that one book. When they were almost to the restaurant, Ino stopped so suddenly Kaida almost crashed into her.

"What's wrong?" Kaida asked, afraid Ino would say she had missed a store and therefore had to go try on more outfits.

Ino looked down at her bags, mumbling unintelligibly to herself. Finally, she spoke up so Kaida could understand her. "I forgot one of my shopping bags!" was the horrified reply. "Would you go get it for me?" Ino asked Kaida, her tone more ordering than requesting.

Kaida grimaced. "Why me?"

"I would be buried under all these bags if I were to add another one. You only have two bags; it wouldn't be too much trouble for you to get it for me, right?" Ino gave her a puppy-eyed look.

Kaida groaned as she turned. "Which store did you leave it at?"

As Kaida left to retrieve the forgotten purchase, Ino opened the door of the restaurant to what Kaida at first thought was an animal dying, but then she thought it sounded like a violin. It was definitely the worst violin-playing she had heard, though.

Was Wakana botching some musical piece on purpose, or playing with her feet? Kaida could think of no other explanation for the horrid sound. It couldn't be very good for the violin itself, though.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, setting up all the stuff in the new building proved to be a difficult task. It was made even more difficult due to Hotaka's continuously-changing mind on where he wanted things to go and how he wanted them arranged. Besides, not only did they have to set up the things coming from the old building, but also some new furniture and kitchen things that had been bought.

Kaida needed a break. She could feel herself getting more irritable with each day that passed, and it was getting harder and harder not to just strangle Hotaka when he said for the umpteenth time, "You know, I think I liked it better the way it was. Move it back."

Finally, Kaida simply decided to bail altogether – for one day, at least. She would train somewhere quiet for a few hours, burning away some stress while she was at it.

She woke up early one morning, before anyone else was awake and before the movers came in, and slipped out the door. At the edge of town was a forest, and Kaida didn't have to wander very far to find a clearing similar to the ones she trained in back at Konoha.

It felt wonderful, and well worth any tongue-lashing she was likely to receive when she went back to the others.

* * *

Around midafternoon, a twig snapped in the shadows. Kaida flung a kunai in that general direction, hoping to scare off whatever animal was there without hurting it. She didn't want to accidentally hit it later because it was nearby.

There was a sound like metal-on-metal, and Shikamaru appeared, shoving his kunai back into his weapons pouch. He tossed her back her kunai.

Kaida caught it and scowled at him. It had been such a nice day. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

Shikamaru smirked at her. "I could ask you the same thing."

Kaida looked away. "If I'd had to go through one more day of that, I would've exploded," she muttered, half simply talking to herself.

Shikamaru stepped closer. "Thought you should know Hotaka decided to let us have today off. He said something about all work and no play making ninjas turn traitor."

Kaida almost smiled. "That's nowhere near how the expression goes. And why 'traitor'?"

"Glaring at him every time he changed his mind and had you move tables and stuff to a different place must've sent him a subtle hint that he was stretching your patience and Ino's pretty thin. And it might have something to do with the fact that you've been on edge about lots of other stuff, too."

Kaida took a deep breath, unsure whether she wanted to laugh or glare at Shikamaru.

The silence stretched.

"Want a training partner?" Shikamaru finally asked.

Kaida studied him warily for a few moments, then shrugged. Shikamaru took this as a yes, and soon the two were sparring.

It was hard not to go beyond 'sparring' and straight into 'pummeling,' but Kaida somehow managed it. That, or Shikamaru could handle her taijutsu well enough to make her think she was holding back a lot.

Kaida struggled to keep her focus on the fight, but her mind instead kept wandering to the one she was fighting. The one that for so long she'd shared nearly everything with – good times and bad, important things and many things that could hardly matter less.

She wanted to describe to Shikamaru her frustration the last couple months, wanted to forget that tension had ever existed between them. She wanted to laugh with him over Hotaka's fussiness concerning his furniture.

For the first time since their argument, she wanted his arms around her, wanted to talk with him about everything under the sun.

Something stopped her from apologizing for lashing out at him like that all those nights ago. She remembered her annoyance that it took him so long to come right out and proposed, remembered her anger during their argument.

And her crushing disappointment that he'd done nothing to try and set things right.

Still. She had been inexcusably rude to him since then. Kaida was still unwilling to apologize for their initial argument, but maybe, just maybe, she could be at least a little friendlier towards him.

The rest of the time they spent sparring, Kaida was much less tense and unfocused.

* * *

"Can you believe we're almost done with this mission!" Ino exclaimed weeks later. "The day of the grand opening will be our last day here!"

Choji grinned. "I gotta say, I'll be glad to get back to Konoha and my many favorite places to eat there, though I'm gonna miss this food a lot, too."

"Don't get too impatient," Shikamaru advised. "We'll get back to the village soon enough."

Kaida wrinkled her nose. "I don't know if I even want to stick around for the opening ceremony. I'm going to have to get dressed up, aren't I?"

"Of course!" Ino laughed. "Look, just wear that dress you bought here. I promise I won't force you to go shopping with me to get something better," she vowed.

Kaida smirked. "Good."

A few days later, the day of the grand opening dawned. Ino set off immediately after breakfast to hunt down the perfect outfit. Choji entered the kitchen with Hotaka to help cook for that night. Kaida stuck around, bored. She had almost decided to spend most of the day training, but had changed her mind when she saw Wakana and Shikamaru exchange a look at her near-departure that Kaida swore said they were glad she was leaving.

Kaida supposed she was no longer considered Shikamaru's girlfriend, and she told herself she didn't care. She had only lately begun to be more civil towards him, after all. She couldn't erase the weeks in which her temper had gotten the better of her around him. But when jealousy seemed to strike at seeing the two together, she realized she did care. She at least cared that Shikamaru found a girl good enough for him.

So when Shikamaru ducked into the kitchen to help Choji and Hotaka, she claimed Wakana for a stroll around town, talking and laughing and just generally getting to know her better.

"So what's your opinion on Shikamaru?" Kaida finally asked, just before the time they should be heading back.

Wakana seemed suddenly interested in scrutinizing each store and restaurant they passed by, not looking at Kaida. "He's a very nice man," she answered slowly, seeming to choose her words with care. She looked over at Kaida. "He loves you, you know, and I bet he'd walk the world over to get you a blade of grass you wanted." She stopped, blushed, and looked away again.

Kaida stared at her for a moment, fighting the absurd joy that came unbidden. So Shikamaru wasn't romantically interested in Wakana? Kaida looked up at the clouds. She could've sworn one of them looked like Shikamaru. "That last part is definitely an exaggeration, but otherwise that was how he used to be," she said softly. "I didn't think he still did, after..." She stopped, unwilling to tell Wakana what she had told Kyra and Ino.

When it became clear Kaida would say no more, Wakana changed the subject, seeming grateful for the change in topic. "It's getting late. We should head back and get ready."

Kaida forced another grin and nodded. "Right. I bet Ino will want to do something major with my hair, and she'll need plenty of time for that!" With that, Kaida grabbed Wakana's hand and pulled her along at a half-run back to the restaurant, laughing most of the way as the girls dodged and weaved their way through whatever crowds were in their way.

As Kaida guessed, the moment she and Wakana returned, Ino pounced on them to get ready. For the better part of an hour, they worked to make themselves presentable for the evening. Ino, as predicted, fussed over Kaida's hair until it was declared perfect by both Ino and Wakana (Kaida couldn't see anything wrong with just leaving it down).

When Ino finally declared the three girls finished, they walked down together to the already-crowded restaurant. Wakana picked up her violin and began playing softly in a corner with a couple other and musicians. Kaida and Ino stood with Shikamaru and Choji as Hotaka welcomed them all and sent a special thanks "to the ninja from Konoha, without whom I never would have opened up again so early."

Dinner was delicious and filled with conversation and laughter. Shikamaru seemed to have his mind on other things, but Kaida figured he was just anxious to get back to Konoha. Midway through, there was a sudden silence and Kaida realized Hotaka and Wakana had grabbed everyone's attention again. Wakana held her violin as she stood silently next to her father.

"There's to be a violin solo tonight," Hotaka announced. "So please, everyone give your undivided attention to Shikamaru Nara."

Kaida sat there stunned as Shikamaru, deadly serious and blushing ferociously, got up from his seat beside her to join Wakana and Hotaka. Polite applause filled the room.

For the longest time, Kaida couldn't remember exactly what she had said to Shikamaru that night oh-so long ago. But now, one line stood out from the rest:

'_Why don't you make a fool of yourself for me?'_

"Shikamaru," she whispered. _'I didn't mean it!'_ she half wanted to yell. _'You don't have to do this; you'll never live it down!'_

But another part of her was flattered - more so than she had ever been concerning anything before. He was doing this for _her_?

Wakana handed Shikamaru the violin and she and her father stepped back. Shikamaru lifted the bow to the strings and began to play. In front of more than a hundred people, he began to play. Shikamaru, who had never been able to do anything musical, began to play.

And it sounded just fine.

Kaida felt her face flush with renewed anger. So, what, he was trying to tell her that he really _was_ perfect? The music wasn't stunningly beautiful or anything, but to Kaida, it seemed as though he was saying that even his weaknesses he could overcome.

And then... And then...!

He began to sing.

He missed nearly every note, his voice too high at one point and too low at another. Not only that, but singing seemed to take some of his concentration away from the violin, so that grew worse.

Someone in the room made a sound as though they were trying to cover up laughter, while someone else covered their ears. Kaida sent them both venomous, withering glares.

As he played and sang what sounded like a love song she had heard a few times before, Kaida wondered how she could have been so blind. His thoughtfulness as he heard Wakana play for the first time. His spending time with Wakana more than anyone else during this mission. The terrible violin-playing she had heard as Ino entered the building after their day of shopping. Wakana's blush as she talked carefully of Shikamaru - because she hadn't wanted to give away the surprise, Kaida now realized. And there had probably been other hints she hadn't seen that she should have.

The last note sounded. Shikamaru had finished playing and was staring at her, his face still red from embarrassment. He seemed to be trying to gauge her reaction. She stared right back. Complete silence reigned as the guests began to realize that there may have been something more significant to the song than first appeared - or perhaps they didn't know if they were supposed to clap for Shikamaru's performance or not.

Kaida felt tears sting her eyes and make their way down her cheeks. He had done that for _her_.

Blurry vision caused her to trip over guests and chairs and her own feet more than once as she finally broke into motion and ran towards Shikamaru, ran towards the man she had never stopped loving, ran towards the man who had never stopped loving her.

She tackled Shikamaru in hug. "Yes, I'll marry you," she said, smiling through her tears. He slowly grinned, then leaned forward and kissed her, ignoring the crowd that saw and burst into loud applause.

* * *

***squee* So whaddaya think? x3 Like this one better, or the original? Review and let me know~ ^^**


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